


First Impression

by Glowworm26



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sun & Moon | Pokemon Sun & Moon Versions
Genre: Gen, It's based off my Nuzlocke run, Mild Language, Mild flirting but nothing too serious, Non-Graphic Violence, Nuzlocke Challenge, Pokemon Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-23
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-09-19 09:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9434144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowworm26/pseuds/Glowworm26
Summary: "They say first impressions rarely go well. But it was a bad sign when my first impression of Guzma was disastrous by those standards."An imagining of the protagonist's first meeting with the Team Skull boss and the impression that he leaves on her, with the bonus of Nuzlocke rules applied to this world. What can go wrong from this meeting?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! This is my first story published here (though I've been writing fanfic for a long time). This was just a simple writing to practice and it was a lot of fun. I might even continue writing more once I get further in my Nuzlocke game (which if you don't know is a challenge where fainted Pokemon are dead and you can only catch one Pokemon per route). Just be warned that there is some Pokemon death, but nothing too graphic.
> 
> Fun Fact: This was going to have mild smut in it (which I have zero experience writing) and Golisopod doesn't even use First Impression. Fail. But I hope you all enjoy!

‘ _Another challenge completed. That Vikavolt was such a bitch. I hope I didn’t scare Sophocles with my outburst…’_

My mood was a mix between a desire to sleep for the rest of my days, relief at passing another trial, the dull sensation of what was battle-hunger…and grief over the loss of yet two more Pokemon.

The Exeggutor Express jostled down the rocky road from the Hokulani Observatory, the passing scenery becoming more green as the mountain crags were left behind as I dwelled upon my current situation. I had just finished my first trial on Ula’Ula Island: a pain in the ass Electric-Bug Totem Pokemon, which had taken forever to defeat despite my type advantage, and its ally in the form of a Charjabug. Mo’ai, my Nosepass I found in the Akala Outskirts, was two levels above the Totem and she still went down. Then I sent out Trippy, my Shiinotic, to weaken it with some status effects. He went down as well, but not before getting Vikavolt in the yellow and paralyzed. I sent out my Crobat, Grunt, to finish off Vikavolt and then my latest addition, a Meowth named Cheshire, to finish off the Charjabug.

These weren’t even the first deaths: I had lost fourteen team members since starting my island challenge. Some deaths had been more painful than others, but each one only made me a stronger trainer. I had expected losses whenever I battled because that was the nature of challenges, but for the love of the legendaries, it seemed like I was getting my ass handed to me wherever I went.

Thankfully, none of my Pokemon seemed to openly resent me for these tragic deaths. My starter, Alfred the Dartrix, was happily sitting in my lap snoozing. Cheshire was sitting in the open seat next to me, contently sleeping with a smug grin on her face. She must have been feeling proud as a rookie to have triumphed in battle. Grunt, along with Willow the Phantump and the new recruits, Harpy the Skarmory and Starkid the Minior, were in their balls resting up after the long day. I just hoped I wouldn’t lose anymore Pokemon today.

Cheshire was sleeping on a colorful wrestling mask. Before I left with my new shiny Electrium-Z, Molayne had given me “Masked Royal’s” mask to give to Professor Kukui, so that he could return it to the mysterious wrestler. I rolled my eyes at the childishness of what was supposed to be the region’s Pokemon professor and the one setting up Alola’s first Pokemon League, but I agreed to give the mask back to Kukui. Molayne just smiled and laughed (probably to keep the mood light), before telling me I would find him at Malie Garden.

As soon as the bus arrived at the bottom of the hill, I decided to order up a Charizard to fly back to Malie City. As I mounted the fiery lizard and took off, I began to reminisce about my time here so far on these beautiful islands, gazing up at the moon. Moving from Kanto was easier than I thought it would be, particularly after the nasty fight I had with my parents about said move. They had become too overbearing to live with at my age, I didn’t have any close friends or relationships, and I had given up on my Gym Challenge after hitting a rut with Sabrina, so it wasn’t like I had anything important that I was leaving behind. These islands were supposed to be a fresh start for me.

Not only was Alola gorgeous with a wider selection of Pokemon, but the people were genuinely friendly and the island challenge was a heck of a lot more fun than hopping from town to town getting Gym Badges. Okay, “fun” was stretching it because it could be challenging if one didn’t have a game plan, as I had lost numerous Pokemon to the Totem Pokemon already. But the tradition was unique, and the captains and kahunas had all been kind and sympathetic to me throughout the trials, especially since I was technically breaking their tradition by being twenty-one rather than eleven when I started this challenge.

 _‘Maybe you keep losing Pokemon because you’re a granny in comparison to the likes of Hau_.’ I let out a snort as the Charizard dropped me off in front of the Pokemon Center. I walked in and mechanically handed over my Pokemon to the nurse behind the counter, just nodding in greeting to her own rehearsed one. _‘Nah, it has nothing to do with age, Brie. It’s all about you getting cocky and not thinking about the Pokemon in front of you.’_ Well, no more. If I was going to go forward in the next challenge, I had to improve myself for the sake of my partners.

A strange thought then came to me. It seemed that everyone on the island that I have encountered, from Hau to the Totems to even random trainers and wild Pokemon, have contributed to my Pokemon’s deaths…except the so-called villain team, Team Skull. I had run-ins with them on occasion, usually because they were bothering residents or because they were trying to steal my Pokemon. I suppose they likened themselves to Team Rocket, but whereas the former team were hiding behind “legitimate business practices” and a Gym Leader for a Boss (before they were defeated _twice_ by child trainers), these Skull grunts were goofy and in my opinion, endearing, like noisy Growlithe puppies begging for attention. Nobody on the islands seemed to take them seriously and I beat them every time without any losses. The only real threats I encountered so far was their enforcer, Gladion, a homeless teen with a freaky Pokemon and an edgy look; and Plumeria, one of the right-hands who specialized in Poison-types and acted like a big sis to the grunts. Both had been tough in their own ways, though I won each time with no losses. I had begun to wonder what the boss of this team would be like. Would they be more like the grunts, or were they an actual threat? Maybe I’d meet them one day if I kept getting involved with those numskulls.

As soon as I entered Malie Garden, I could already feel my brain kicking itself for thinking about Team Skull, because there they were. Two male grunts were confronting Kukui near the bridge as a crowd began to form around them. They tried their best to look intimidating as Kukui just smiled indulgently at them.

Just my luck. I think I’ll hang in the back and let him handle this.

He noticed my presence with a brief glance behind him and his grin widened as one of the grunts said, “Yo, yo, yo! Hold up, yo, Mr. Kukui!”

“You say you wanna make a Pokemon League? You got rocks in your skull?” the other said.

“Four turns!” Kukui announced, looking back at them. The grunts widened their eyes in surprise as Kukui continued. “Bring it on, the both of you! I’ve been researching Pokemon moves, yeah, so I’m always ready, oh yeah! I’ll take you both on in a Battle Royal, and you’ll be down with just a Swift and Incinerate or two! You gotta beat the man to be the man, boys!”

“Kukui, please don’t randomly start grudge matches in the middle of the garden,” I groaned under my breath, but I could feel the urge to battle beginning to rise. It would be nice to get Starkid and Harpy some experience.

“Y-Yo, for real?” one of the grunts said with his eyes wide open.

“Have it your way!” the other said with as much bravado as he could muster. These weren’t my Berry Bros that I had “befriended” on Melemele Island. A shame, I was hoping to meet up with those numskulls again and pal around with them some more.

“Get ‘em good, professor! You numskulls should learn your place!” the onlookers cheered when they fell silent at the appearance of a tall, intimidating individual standing on the golden bridge behind the grunts.

“Battle Royal, huh? Nice idea there, Kukui. You can beat down three Pokemon at once, huh?” the man scoffed, hands on his hips and a mocking smirk on his face.

Kukui didn’t lose his smile, though it had devolved into a smirk as the larger man approached, the grunts moving aside.

“It’s Guzma…” a woman next to me said in a low voice with a worried expression. Wait, no way…. Could this guy be…?

“The boss has graced us with his presence!” one of the grunts gushed excitedly, most likely thinking the tables have turned.

Yep, it was. I decided to take in the appearance of this “Guzma” character more clearly. He looked to be around Kukui’s age, maybe a few years older. He had a few more inches on Kukui and while not well-built like the professor or even Kiawe, his broad shoulders and bulk certainly added to the intimidation. Apart from his height and size, he had an odd appearance: a rumpled mess of white dyed hair with a black undercut, his eyes were dark and sunken in…was he wearing make-up to make them bolder or were they just that baggy? His clothes were gaudy and tried to give the impression of a “gangsta”: gold chain with the Skull symbol around his neck, matching purple tattoos, a black hoodie (even if it’s short-sleeved, dude, this heat will kill you), baggy sweatpants, white high-tops and bright yellow sunglasses on his head; why was one of them in a half-moon shape? Geez, I know that Team Skull’s fashion was edgy and supposed to make one look tough, but who let this man dress himself? He wasn’t even necessarily bad-looking and I suppose if anyone could pull off this bizarre thug look, it would be him since he wore it with the confidence of a Persian using Swagger. An Alolan Persian, with its goofy odd face rather than the sleeker Kanto Persian, but I digress.

He was slouched over as he kept his hands on his hips, leering at Kukui and smirking smugly.

“The hated boss who beats you down, and beats you down, and never lets up…Yeah. Big bad Guzma is here!” he said. His voice was gruff and the light traces of a “tough guy” accent could be detected in it. But I was more floored by what he said rather than how he said it.

Oh…wow. Who introduces themselves like that? Was this guy just as big of a dork as his underlings? I am trying to contain my snickering because even if this guy might be an overconfident dork, he could still punch my lights out and I didn’t want to add a shiner to my “things that went wrong today” list.

Besides, Kukui was probably going to drag me into this situation anyways.

The professor didn’t respond and Guzma spoke again, this time folding his arms over his chest and his smirk turning into a crazy-looking smile. “Greetings, cowering public! We have an exciting bout for you tonight! In the opposing corner, the Pokemon professor Kukui! And in this corner, the boss of Team Skull and the hardest guy around, Guzma!”

Was this guy just a very old-looking teenager, or simply a man-child? Was he just waiting at the tea house to make his grand entrance all along? I quietly edged closer to Kukui. I’m certain that if this guy was as crazy as he was acting, he’ll soon bring out his Pokemon and cause some chaos.

He relaxed his stance again and closed his eyes, looking a bit tired. “Here we are, Kukui…Fellow rejects who never could become captains. We’ve got all these moldy old traditions in Alola—the kahunas, the captains…It’s about time we cut out all that silly garbage and make something new for ourselves. Trust me, I get that.”

Huh, he seemed quiet and reflective. It was silly that captains can only hold their position until they’re twenty and the kahunas must be picked by the Tapu (I know for a fact that I was only allowed to participate in the island trials because Tapu Koko “chose me” after the incident at the bridge). We had plenty of older Gym Leaders and Elite Four members in Kanto and other regions who did quite fine in their roles. Maybe Guzma started his gang out of bitterness at not becoming a captain? Maybe there’s more to his swaggering numskull than I thought…

“Don’t get me wrong, though, Kukui. We’ve got no need for a Pokemon League. After all, everyone already knows who the strongest Trainer is on these islands!” Guzma added with a smug grin.

Okay, so much for humility and self-reflection. I have been wrong in my judgments before.

“Speak for yourself, Guzma,” Kukui scoffed. “It’s not like I couldn’t become captain. I choose not to. I had other dreams, see?” He turned back and walked up towards me, his eyes closed and a gentler smile on his face as if he was remembering a happy memory. “I wanted to figure out which moves would be strong enough to beat old Hala…and I finally found what I was looking for. The strongest moves you can use are the ones a Trainer and their Pokemon choose together…in the heat of the moment, when it really counts.”

He looked knowingly at me and I realized he was acknowledging my struggles throughout my trials. He then turned back to Guzma, who had a condescending smirk on his face, though Kukui kept on speaking sincerely with a hopeful smile to contrast. “That’s when I knew I had to make a Pokemon League, yeah, to give everybody a chance to be pushed to the limit with their team and find that perfect move! Let’s see it, Guzma! Show me your moves and prove you aren’t just all talk! If you really can, that is…”

Guzma’s eyes narrowed and he frowned deeply at that as Kukui kept on grinning. I was proud of that dorky professor for giving no fucks about the boss of a criminal gang trying to intimidate him.

I was pulled back into reality when I heard my name being called by Kukui. “Right, Brie? Don’t you agree?”

“Oh, uh, that’s right, professor! A man who is all talk and no action is…eh, I forgot what I was going to say, but you get the idea,” I said, coming up next to Kukui. It looked like I was getting pulled into this mess after all. Thanks for living up to my expectations, Kukui.

Guzma finally took notice of me, roved his eyes up and down with a rather cheeky grin on his face. I was starting to regret wearing these short-shorts and halter top. Why did it have to be this guy who took notice of what I was wearing?

“Man, kids these days sure grow up fast, huh, boys? Hope your wife’s cool with you keeping jailbait around, Kukui. Hey, how old are you anyway?” he asked me, keeping that insufferable grin on his face as he continued to stare.

I resisted the urge to fold my arms over my chest (I was not letting this guy know he was getting to me) and opted to place them on my hips, mirroring what he was doing. Try to look like Gladion, except with less edge. “Mentally, I’m way too old for you, though, so you can stop looking, you creep,” I said, trying to keep my tone semi-joking to keep the mood light as I can.

Kukui barely contained his snickers while Guzma continued to leer at me, though his grin turned nasty as he let out a scoff. Shit, guess I needed to brush up on my intimidation skills.

“This here’s Brie. She just moved to Alola recently and while she’s a bit of a late bloomer at twenty-one, she has been doing extremely well on her island challenge. Discovery! New experiences! Adventure! She’s loving every minute of it!” Kukui said happily, patting my shoulder.

 _‘Except the part where my Pokemon die, and I feel physically and emotionally drained after every challenge…but yeah, apart from that, good times,’_ I thought to myself, as I kept on glaring on Guzma, hoping I came across as even slightly menacing to him. I don’t think it was working.

“Yo, yo, I recognize her!” one of the grunts in the background gasped and began to fling his arms everywhere. “The other grunts were talkin’ about this girl who keeps getting in our way. She even threw down with big sis and Gladion!”

“Is that so?” Guzma muttered. It seemed like his eyes had become darker when he heard that. Great, now I’m on the boss of Team Skull’s hit list. Can this situation get any worse?

“Brie and her Pokemon can unleash some real powerful moves,” Kukui said, looking confident. “So if you think you’re the strongest Trainer on these islands, Guzma, why don’t you battle her?”

“Professor, I’m happy you have faith in my abilities as a Trainer, but I’d prefer not to get on a gang leader’s bad side,” I said with some panic in my voice, tugging on the professor’s arm. He shrugged and smiled in a carefree manner.

“You got your Pokemon all healed up, yeah? Trust me, Guzma’s not that tough,” Kukui said. “And I’m right here in case he tries anything funny. No worries, cousin.”

“But I’m tired!” I whined pathetically as Guzma let out disgusted scoff.

“Tch! This move fanatic is getting me all riled up!” He frowned as he turned to me again. I couldn’t help but flinch a bit, but I was thankful he was only staring at the Z-Ring on my wrist.

“You got a Z-Ring, huh, princess? You’re about the same age as me. Why even bother with the island challenge? What’s the point of it?” he snapped as his expression became one of incredulity, as if he couldn’t fathom the idea why anyone would want to participate in the trials at all, like it was a huge waste of time.

I suddenly found myself at a loss of words. I hated being put on the spot like this, hated the demeaning nature I was getting from this guy. But, even though I wanted to bow out and hit the sack, I didn’t want to let this guy off the hook. I swallowed the bile in my throat, and did my best to look and sound as tough as possible.

“I’ve lost some good teammates while doing this challenge, so I want to be strong enough that I won’t lose my Pokemon again.” Images of my fallen Pokemon flashed in my mind: Mo’ai, Trippy, Ace the Fearow, Mori the Cubone, Steel Ball Run the Magnemite… “It’ll make me strong.”

“No it won’t, you dumb girl!” Guzma said, letting out a harsh laugh. My temper flared up as I felt my hands tightening into fists. I let them drop from my waist and stepped forward, knowing that a battle was imminent. And I couldn’t wait to take him down a peg.

Guzma’s grin was back again, sensing that a battle was about to start as well. “Watch closely, Kukui. Someday I’m gonna destroy you. But first, I’ll destroy everything you care about! Starting with this idiot.”

He then folded his arms, straightened up to his full height and grinned maniacally, his pupils dilating. “Wanna see what destruction looks like? Here it is in human form—it’s your boy Guzma!”

I didn’t even bother to hide my laughter at that. Seriously, it was both incredible the stupid things this guy spewed, and yet it’s also easy to see why people would join his gang and follow him. He did have a certain level of charisma, even when he was being gross and childishly arrogant.

He sent out his first Pokemon, throwing the Pokeball with way too much force that I was worried for the creature inside. It was a Pokemon I had never seen before: a large gray beetle standing on its hind legs with black eyes and two large claw-like appendages. Guzma then settled down into a squat as he looked expectantly at me. Geez, he couldn’t even stand up to face me like a regular Trainer? Kukui and several of the bystanders stood back to give us ample room.

I sent out the first Pokemon in my party, which happened to be Harpy. She ruffled her shiny feather and let out a confident squawk. I decided to hold off on switching. ‘ _This thing is a few levels above Harpy, but I have the type advantage over him since his Pokemon is certainly a Bug-type and she’s got pretty thick skin. Let’s just see what it does, wear it down and then switch if things get dicey…’_

“Golisopod, use Swords Dance,” Guzma ordered, waving his hand lazily at the command. Shit, Swords Dance. I was now too nervous to switch into one of my hard-hitters such as Grunt or Albert. _‘Just calm down, Brie…Harpy is strong, you got this…’_

“Harpy, use Aerial Ace!” I ordered, doing my best to ignore the sweat on my palms. Let’s see how Harpy does while holding the Sharp Beak...

The attack hardly did damage as Guzma ordered another Swords Dance on his Golisopod. I felt myself swallowing the lumps in my throat as I ordered her to perform Air Cutter. Still relatively little damage.

“Is that the best you got, babe? Golisopod, use Razor Shell!” Guzma ordered, a nasty smirk appearing on his face as the Golisopod flung a shell from its back at Harpy.

I knew what was going to happen, but that didn’t stop me from feeling my stomach plummet and the sense of dread grip my entire body. Harpy let out a horrific cry as the shell sliced open her neck and then she hit the ground with a hard drop. There were several gasps of horror from the crowd. I could only imagine the look on Kukui’s face. I don’t look at anyone in the crowd—I just looked at Harpy’s lifeless body, her eyes widened in shock, and then at the face of her executioner.

The Golisopod stood there, clicking its jaws at its Trainer’s praise and waiting for the next move. Guzma looked smug; the look he was giving me practically screamed, “You see, this is what you get for fucking with me.” I thought I saw a look of regret on his face when Harpy went down, but maybe I was just imagining it. It’s hard to pay attention to detail when your Pokemon was killed in combat.

I returned the immobile Skarmory into her ball and regained my composure. Deep breaths, Brie, you didn’t know this Pokemon for very long and you had harsher losses…You can’t let your Pokemon down and lose to a creep like this…

“Grunt, let’s end this bug!” I sent out my Crobat in all her finery. She could tell from my look that another one of my Pokemon went down and she was itching to punish the Pokemon responsibly for making her Trainer upset.

“Whoa, not bad! My own boys can barely evolve their Zubats. Plum would be impressed,” Guzma said, whistling at the sight of Grunt. “And you named her after my grunts? Maybe you can catch a Wimpod and name it after me since you’re so impressed with Team Skull.”

“Buddy, I wouldn’t even gift a Trubbish with a trashy name like yours,” I said, my tone dripping with sarcasm and hostility. “Grunt, use Fly!”

She took to the sky just as Guzma ordered another Swords Dance, scowling as he did.

Grunt then dropped down onto Golisopod, doing more damage to it than Harpy did. However, it then fled back to the safety of the ball.

“Emergency Exit. It’s Golisopod’s Ability, Brie!” Kukui called out from the sidelines, probably in response to my surprised look.

“You stay out of this, Kukui! Let’s see if you can handle Ariados!” Guzma said as he threw in a new Pokemon. The spider Pokemon clicked menacingly at Grunt, but I knew I had the upper-hand this time.

“Grunt, use Fly again!” However, just before she took to the air, Guzma shouted, “Sucker Punch that bat, Ariados!”

Ariados leapt forward with surprising speed to sock Grunt in the face. It did enough damage to make me flinch, but not enough to the point I needed to switch her out just yet.

Grunt took the sky and came back down, knocking out the Ariados in one hit. Guzma’s face tightened as he recalled his fainted Pokemon and he sent out Golisopod.

“What, you only got two Pokemon? Are you that confident in your abilities?” I called out mockingly. It was pretty satisfying to see Guzma scowl in frustration.

“Golisopod, Razor Shell!”

“Grunt, Fly!”

My Pokemon was faster as she avoided the attack and flew into the air, coming back down in the next turn to knock out the Golisopod. Grunt squeaked in triumph and flew up to me, hoping for a pat and a bean.

“You did great, Grunt. I’m sure Harpy’s happy for you, too,” I said as I pulled out a few beans. She scarfed them down as I patted her, watching as Guzma stood up. He looked angry as he came up to me. I tensed up, waiting to be socked in the face, when he grabbed my wrist with too much force and he smacked the prize money into my hand.

“I see. Great work…I guess,” he muttered irritably. He was still behaving like a big kid, acting like he got grounded rather than losing a fight. Was he…impressed with me? Maybe he was just glad I didn’t kill his Pokemon in retaliation.

“Uh, thanks. You did great, too,” I said awkwardly. I wanted to add “for a Pokemon murderer,” but I decided to let that slide. I just wanted to get to the Pokemon Center and bury Harpy and sleep.

_‘Why Tapu Koko would ever choose such a pathetic Trainer like me is a cosmic joke. All I do is let my Pokemon die…’_

I noticed that while Guzma had dropped the grip on my wrist, he was still invading my personal space. “Sorry about your bird, or whatever. Shit happens,” he said gruffly, looking away from me as he said it.

 _‘Wow, are you as great at making apologies as you are at battling?_ ’ was what I wanted to say to him, but I didn’t. I simply nodded at his half-hearted apology, looked down and fidgeted as Guzma refused to back away. He smelled like a mix of sweat, booze and…was that the faint smell of Tapu Cocoa? Thankfully, I noticed Kukui come up next to me as his cheery smile was now a straight line, his eyes trained on Guzma as if daring him to do something.

Suddenly, the Team Skull leader bit his lip and clutched at his hair, ruffling it up as he shouted angrily, “ **Guzma!!! What is wrong with you?!** Now’s the time for your vaunted team to let loose and destroy everything!”

I jumped back a bit and looked to Kukui at the sudden outburst. He just gave me a guarded look that looked like he would answer my questions later.

Guzma took a deep breath and looked at me, his expression still an irate one, but less angry as he had been a few moments earlier. “It was Brie, right?”

I gave him a small nod and he shook his head before pointing at me, a glint in his eye. “I’ll remember you…as someone I’ll be happy to beat down anytime!”

I gulped as Guzma stormed past me and Kukui, brushing past me while he looked ahead, a dark look on his face and muttering something I couldn’t hear. I had made an enemy of a hot-tempered, morally bankrupt guy who was the leader of a band of thugs and who killed one of my Pokemon. I must have been chosen by the guardians because my life was a wonderful tragi-comedy for them.

“Don’t mess with the boss, yo! You saw what he did to your dumb Pokemon! You don’t want him to get serious!” one of the grunts said before he and his buddy ran off to catch up with their leader.

The tension dispersed once Team Skull was out of sight as the crowd of onlookers began to clap and cheer. “Team Skull will have to lick their wounds now! Getting beat by a Trainer just doing her trials!” “Aue, Brie! You are one righteous Trainer! Even when your Pokemon was taken out, you bounced right back!”

I blushed at the recognition from the crowd, rubbing the back of my neck and smiling at them. If there was one thing Kanto lacked, it was the fact that most of the people here acknowledged and seemed to respect all the hard work I did, both as a trial-goer and as someone who helped others.

 _‘Ha, wonder how long that’ll last when your whole team dies and you’re left with nothing…’_ Wow, way too cynical, time not to think like that now.

As soon as the crowd of people scattered, Kukui turned to me and gave me a cheerful smile. “Woo, Brie! Those were some nice moves! I can feel my soul shaking!” His smile faltered as he said sincerely, “I am sorry about what happened to your Skarmory. If I’d known that would have happened, I wouldn’t have pushed you into battle like that…”

I put on a small smile. “I don’t blame you, Kukui. It’s just what happens in battle. I know the risks and all I can do is improve myself until next time.”

Kukui’s smile returned, though it was smaller. “I also hope you don’t hold it against Guzma. He’s a hardhead and he runs head first into poor decisions, yeah, but he’s not a bad guy at heart. I know he’s not.”

I raised my eyebrow as the two of us began to walk towards the Pokemon Center. “If you say so. I want to hear the backstory between you two. Oh, but before I forget. Here’s what I wanted to give you in the first place!”

I dug through my purse and pulled out his mask, holding it towards him. “Here you go, sir. I’m sure “Masked Royal” will be needing it back,” I said with a wink.

He took it a bit hastily, stuffed it into his lab coat pocket and said with all seriousness, “Ah, thank you. I’ll make sure it gets back to the Masked Royal safe and sound.”

I shook my head a bit and let out a soft chuckle. Was Alola just populated by beautiful women, cute kids and attractive man-children?

Afterwards, Kukui gave me a Decidium-Z for Alfred’s final evolution and he left me alone at the center so I could pay my final respects. After “burying” Harpy in the box, I ran into Lillie and Acerola, where the latter girl revealed that her trial was the next one. I told her I would look forward to her trial after a good night’s rest. I left out the part about three of my Pokemon dying in battle today: Lillie had broken down into tears when she heard that I had lost three Pokemon in one day, including my Herdier which she had grown fond of, so there was no need to upset her now. Heck, she even looked panicked when I told her and Acerola about my encounter with Team Skull.

I reassured her that everything was fine and nothing went wrong, all with a smile on my face. Lillie seemed content at hearing this, and I parted way with the girls after Acerola gave me directions for tomorrow’s trial and to the motel to spend the night.

After a long trek, I made it to the roadside motel, rented a room for the night and flopped onto the bed, my purse lying next to me. I heard the familiar zap of a Pokeball opening up and I turned my head slightly to see that Cheshire had forced her way out of the Pokeball. She let out a soft meow and nestled up against my head, purring up a storm. I idly patted her and took comfort in her soft fur.

I wanted to cry after today, but I had no more tears left—only the empty feeling of sadness and troubling doubts that gave me a headache when I dwelled on them for too long.

Instead of making myself sick with these thoughts, I rolled over to stare at the ceiling and thought about my first impression on the “hated boss” of Team Skull. They say first impressions rarely go well. But it was a bad sign when my first impression of Guzma was disastrous by those standards.

He was loud, arrogant, ill-tempered…but he also seemed to have as much self-esteem issues and personal troubles as his underlings. While he was a force to be reckoned with, he wasn’t as unnerving as that woman from the Aether Foundation. What was her name, Lusamine? That smile of hers gave me the creeps, though I couldn’t say why.

There was one thing I was certain about Guzma: I was most likely going to battle him again in the future and I wouldn’t underestimate him like before.

‘ _I’ve got a bad feeling about all this. But as I’ve said about a hundred time by now…’_

“What can go wrong?” I murmured, my eyes closing and thoughts drifting into sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope it wasn't too long or dull. Let me know if you liked the story or what I can improve on next time, or if I should continue this as a series. Thank you for reading!


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